NICKEL
by Goombario Jr
Summary: Another new player's logged on to The World. Hopefully, her experience will be filled with all kinds of fun, adventure, and humor. She just hopes she doesn't go into a coma.


My first crack at a .hack// story! I've been a fan of the series since 2004, and never got around to writing anything. For once, this isn't a lemon, and I'm really not planning on it to be, so I'm sorry if that's what you've come to expect from me, although ... I kind of hope it isn't. Anyway, on with the show!

Since I've been failing to put Disclaimers in my story (This is a fanfiction site, it should go without saying, right?) I'll put it in now, although it's short: I do not own .hack// in any way, shape, or form. All things relating to it belong to the respective companies and people. I don't know those specific names, so that's the best I can do.

This story is supposed to be in the POV of the main character, although I trailed away from that for a paragraph or two, and tried to restore it soon after. More on this after the story.

1. Login

---

Hm …Let's see. The game is installed, I finally got it booted up … Okay, here's the character creation. I figured this out beforehand, so …

Class … Wave master.

Gender is … Female.

Character name … God, I always suck at making up names … Something common, or something weird … Oh, I know!

Character created, logging in.

It seemed like my entire body jumped as my vision turned black, and I saw myself flying through a strange vortex - This was the game's "entrance," or so I was told. I had finally bought "The World," a computer game that was supposedly one of the most popular games of all time. After hearing so much about it, I figured I might as well give it a shot.

Lucky for me, the creators had some special where all new purchases of the game came with some kind of visor you put over your eyes, it's supposed to make you feel like you're actually _in_ the game, and it certainly did the job; I felt like I was flying through space as the game loaded my character.

My vision changed from some strange space-like void, now showing me a small town-like area. In front of me was a staircase that leads down to a long street, ending with a bridge which crossed a stream of water. It was quite nice, actually.

Some people said you could play the game with a mouse and keyboard, but it was suggested that you use a controller if you were using the visor, most likely because you wouldn't be able to see your keyboard. At the moment, I was in first-person view; it was kinda cool, it seemed like I was actually in this world. Pressing a random button caused the camera to zoom out; letting me see the character I had created. If I had read the manual correctly, I must've pressed L2. I think …

The girl in front of me was actually pretty cute! She had purple hair and an odd black cap on her head that had a red polka-dot pattern covering it. Her clothing, while it looked like a gown, was some kind of cloak that was just as black as her hat.

What am I, a freakin' Goth …? I hope I can buy different clothing later … Anyway, there's more to her than what I mentioned.

Her eyes were a bright purple, which only slightly matched her dark purple hair; her skin wasn't pale, but it wasn't that bright either. Her height seemed … Well, I'm guessing, but I'd say she was probably around four feet tall. The most important thing about her was the object in her hand - A white staff with a bird's feather carving at the end of it. It kind of looked like she was carrying around a feather on a stick; it was her weapon in this world. Well, I really should call it _my_ weapon, since this character is my persona. Besides, saying "her" all the time would get rather confusing.

Anyway, I pressed L2 once more, going back into first-person view.

"There, that's much better." I thought out loud, not noticing that everyone could hear me.

I moved the camera around, seeing the staff in my hand. I felt kind of cool having magical powers now. According to the instruction manual, there should be some kind of spinning gate thing behind me. I continued turning the camera around, and yup, there it is.

Now to play with the buttons and hope I don't break something.

After a few mistakes, I figured out how to check out my Inventory. It seemed like I started with five of each of the most basic items, which included healing potions, poison antidotes, and stuff like that. I also had something called a "Fairy's Orb," which I had no idea about. I think it's one of those things you can't use in a town.

Since shopping wasn't going to be an issue (which was a relief, for some reason,) I decided that I might as well try actually playing the game. Turning to the spinning gate, I pressed the X button, which brought up a menu of many words. What was it again … Oh yeah.

"Bursting! Passed Over! Aqua Field!" I yelled loudly, looking at the gate. This was common in towns, as it was the way to teleport to various areas in the game; you say the location out loud and you're warped. But for some reason, I was just standing there, yelling like an idiot. I thought that you could say the location instead of using the controller … What did I do wrong?

" … Aw, son of a …"

I didn't realize that I was about six feet away from the gate itself, and I had accidentally zoomed in towards it. Looking around, I saw that a few people were staring at me - I don't blame them; if I saw someone screaming like an idiot for no particular reason, I'd gawk too.

After getting closer and trying about two more times, I finally saw the screen fade, seeing text in front of me that told me where I was headed: Delta server, "Bursting Passed Over Aquafield."

After a few moments, I saw the area start to appear before me. Like the name hinted, it was a large field. I'd heard that it was normally quite a beautiful place to start your game at; unfortunately, today must've been "all newbies suck day." The sky was dark, rain was pouring down, and thunder was booming every second. Thanks to the "realistic" feel that the visor gave, it felt like my hair was becoming soaking wet from this digital storm. In the distance, I saw a stone formation that seemed like something I could hide under, so I bolted for it. I was almost there … But my run was stopped.

A foot stepped in my way, tripping me and causing me to fall hard on my face. Again, thanks to the _wonderful_ technology that today's world offered, it actually hurt when I hit the ground. I looked up, seeing a very ugly creature standing over me; looking at it caused a small stats list to appear next to it.

Goblin

HP: 78/78

I thought Monsters had Skill Points too, but this list didn't show it - Maybe it was just a newbie area thing? This wasn't really the time to ponder. I stood up, grasping the staff in my hand and glaring at the monster in front of me. The Goblin stuck it's tongue out at me, taunting me … It was beginning to get me mad.

"Take this!" I yelled angrily, pointing the staff at the creature, awaiting an awesome blast of magical power.

Nothing happened.

"Huh?!" I was starting to panic now; did I break it? What did I do wrong? Oh, that's right … I have to actually know the name of a spell. That shouldn't take long … Pressing a few buttons got me to a list of skills.

"Now, you're mine!" I yelled, grinning at the monster who, for some reason, hadn't tried to attack me. "Repth!" I yelled as loud as I could, hoping this would finally do something … And it did. I was engulfed in a blue light which seemed to swirl around me … Then did nothing.

" … That was a healing spell, wasn't it?" I asked no one in particular. I suppose I thought the Goblin would answer me or something. I groaned, gripping the staff once more. If this one doesn't work, I'm just gonna run for it …

"Vak Don!" I yelled, praying to the game's digital heavens that something would happen. The Goblin was engulfed in a fiery blast, causing it to scream in pain. Awesome!

I watched happily as the monster burned to death, falling to the ground and disappearing. That was sweet! The small fight made me completely forget that my clothing was now soaking wet from the rain. I continued running, seeing that this stone formation was actually a doorway to a flight of stairs. This is a dungeon entrance, isn't it?

Might as well find out …

The dungeon wasn't really a beautiful place at all; it was dark, damp, and it smelled a bit like evil. I shrugged, continuing down another staircase and making my way deeper into the dungeon.

"Slow down, damn it!"

I paused, hearing this - It was a male's voice, and it seemed to be coming from behind me. I turned, but as soon as I did-

WHAM! Someone crashed into me, both of us falling to the hard stone floor. I blinked, regaining my senses and seeing a boy's eyes locked with mine; we both quickly jumped back, staring at each other.

"What do you want?" I asked, holding back shaking from fear. Some random figure slammed into me and started swearing? This won't end well.

"I've been trying to catch you since you left town …" He said, standing up and dusting his clothing off. "You're new, aren't ya?" He asked. I nodded, standing up and picking my staff up from the floor.

"Yeah, I started about an hour ago." I replied. He seemed nice, which was a relief since the people at my school kept talking about "Player Killers" that had started playing in the game. "You're not going to kill me, are you?" I asked, holding my staff in front of me. This guy was probably way too strong for me, but I wasn't gonna let him know that. He looked at me, laughing loudly.

"You just told me you're new; you can't be past level 2 yet. Cute defense pose, though." He said. "Don't worry, I don't PK. I'm here to assist."

I lowered my staff, giving him a smile. I assumed PK meant Player Killing, but either way I wasn't going to ask. Ignoring the fact that he called me cute (flattery rarely worked with me,) I started talking again.

"What are you planning to assist me with? I don't even know how to join a Party yet." I said. "Do you know how complicated it was killing a freakin' Goblin? I thought I was gonna die or go into a coma or something!" He looked at me, and I could tell he was holding back more laughter.

"Go into a coma? You know the year 2010 is way behind us, right? Gaming comas don't happen anymore." He said. I glared at him as he laughed again.

"Oh shut up! I'm allowed to worry." I said, crossing my arms.

(How did I cross my arms through a controller, anyway …? I guess the visor picked up on my mood or something. I'm just making this up as I go along. But now I'm rambling.)

"Let me explain." He said. "I was bored. I saw you shouting at the wall, assumed you were new, and I figured helping out a newbie was a productive way to kill time." I shook my head, sighing.

"God, I must've looked so stupid." I groaned. He didn't say anything; he didn't have to. Out of nowhere, a small window appeared in front of my vision:

"Crunchy62 is inviting you to exchange member addresses. Accept?"

Having no idea what this meant, and being the idiot I am, I clicked YES.

"Crunchy62 has been added to your Friend list."

The window disappeared, showing the boy in front of me again.

"Your name is Crunchy?" I asked. "That's … Stupid. Couldn't you think up something a little more manly?" He glared at me which quickly shut me up.

"I thought it sounded cool. Shut up or I _will_ PK you."

"So does this mean you have my address thingy too?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, but since I invited you, I didn't have to approve anything." He said. "Well, come on, we should probably level you up a bit."

"Okay, that sounds fun, although I will miss the "boring conversation" mini game." I said, teasingly sticking my tongue out. He glared at me, pulling a dagger out of his sleeve and giving me a wicked grin.

"This is your last warning, girly." He said as the blade disappeared. I gulped, nodding. "So what's your name, anyway?"

"Nickel." I replied, smiling. He froze, turning to look at me.

"Your name … Is Nickel." He said. I nodded.

"Uh-huh. Is that considered dirty or something?" I asked. Instead of an answer, he burst out laughing, falling to the floor.

"That's so damn stupid! And you said Crunchy was dumb! You named yourself after freaking money!" His laugh just got louder, which was really starting to piss me off.

"Vak Don." I muttered, causing a puff of flame to appear, catching his clothing on fire. As soon as he noticed this, he started panicking, jumping around.

"Put it out! Put it out! It's hot!" He yelled, bouncing around. I grinned, chuckling.

"Here, let me help you!" I said, reaching out and grabbing his neck. "Stop …" I tossed him hard to the ground. "Drop …" I held my staff like a golf club and whacked him hard, sending him into the next room. "And roll!" I followed him in, seeing that his whole body was charred black. He coughed, a puff of smoke coming from his mouth.

Wow, like I haven't seen that a billion times before in cartoons. How cliché.

"You little bitch!" He said, clenching his fist. I grinned, laughing as I stood over him.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" I said. "Don't screw with Nickel the Magnificent." He looked up, smirking.

"Magnificent, eh? You'll have to prove that." He said. When I didn't answer, he looked concerned. "What's wrong …?"

"I didn't wanna have to prove it now!" I said, pointing behind him. It looked like the Goblin I had faced before, but this guy was green, had warts on his arms, and his eyes were blood red. His muscles were bulging, and he was much taller than the two of us. "W-What do we do?" I looked down, seeing that his eyes were about as wide as mine.

"Run!" He yelled. I grabbed his wrist, pulling him from the floor and behind me as I bolted from the room, or tried to - The doorway was sealed off! "Crap, you can't leave the room until you defeat all of the monsters!" He said. Turning around didn't help; Big, green and ugly was looking down at us, breathing heavily.

"Any ideas, miss magnificent?" He asked, his eyes locked on the Goblin.

" … V-Vak Don?" I stammered, hugging my staff close to me. "Wait … That little sword you had … You're a twin blade, aren't you?" He nodded, his small swords sliding out of his shirt sleeves and into his hands. "Instead of hiding, let's fight!" I said, holding my staff out. He nodded, walking past me and towards the Goblin.

"Nickel?" He said, still facing forward.

"Mm-hm?" I asked, stepping next to him with my staff towards the monster.

"Let's kick some ass."

---

Yes, I KNOW, I suck at chapter endings, especially cliffhangers. Anyway, I have something to say here. I'm sure you noticed how I mentioned that the character didn't know how she could cross her arms while holding a controller. That's something that had me wondering all through the .hack// games, anime, and manga. How could you do all of those specific things while holding a PS2 controller, or using a keyboard? There aren't enough commands in the world to do EVERY SINGLE THING a character does in the show/game, so I just made it up about the visor picking up the player's emotions/brainwaves whatever.

It sounded good at the time.


End file.
